And yes, this really is something that writers worry about, although almost always, without any good reason.
Yasmin Khan’s cookbook Sabzi ignited a legal battle when a Cornish deli of the same name attempted to claim ownership of the widely used South and Central Asian word (it apparently means “vegetables”).
The Guardian frames this as a typical colonial-era pattern of cultural appropriation / theft:
I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began
Which, for my money, isn’t exactly what this is all about: simply, the trademark should never have been granted, and the foolish owners of the deli chain were clearly out of their tiny minds in seeking get get hot and legally-heavy with this author. Very, very stupid indeed.
Yasmin Khan’s cookbook Sabzi ignited a legal battle when a Cornish deli of the same name attempted to claim ownership of the widely used South and Central Asian word (it apparently means “vegetables”).
The Guardian frames this as a typical colonial-era pattern of cultural appropriation / theft:
I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began
Which, for my money, isn’t exactly what this is all about: simply, the trademark should never have been granted, and the foolish owners of the deli chain were clearly out of their tiny minds in seeking get get hot and legally-heavy with this author. Very, very stupid indeed.
